


better times

by neverwinter (KingPreussen)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Mentions of Sex, Nightmares, No Spoilers, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2018-10-09 23:57:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingPreussen/pseuds/neverwinter
Summary: Being what equated to a mercenary certainly had its perks.---Some stories about Taako and Angus, and others.new 2/8:chapter 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> collection of related short stories. more chapters will be added soon
> 
> set... somewhere after the lunar interlude where angus joins the bureau, but before taako and kravitz start dating (at least for now)
> 
> title from [better times](https://soundcloud.com/arbour-eat-them/better-times-new-inner-ocean-cassette-soon)
> 
> warning for this first chapter: semi-explicit sex between consenting adults

Being what equated to a mercenary certainly had its perks.

For one, Taako didn't have to worry about paying rent. Post Glamor Springs ( _post Sazed,_ his brain [un]helpfully amended) was a time spent mostly in hiding, living off small change and doing odd jobs with magic until he was picked up for adventuring with two idiots that ended up being family. Now that money wasn't an object he spent a lot more time shopping and drinking and doing things that, frankly, kept the nightmares at bay.

For two-- Taako lost his train of thought quite abruptly, making a rather undignified squawking sound as his skirt was hiked up to his waist and he was lifted and pressed against a door. "We've got all night, my dude," he breathed, and then leaned forward to kiss… whatever his name was. The beat of the music from the band downstairs thrummed through Taako's back and up into his head, making him feel even more drunk than he already was.

The man said something that Taako wasn't really interested in, and then he was being pushed onto a bed. "Oh, feisty," he giggled, letting himself be manhandled. It wasn't often enough that getting bruises and bitemarks was pleasurable and not painful. Again, Taako waved those thoughts away, focusing on the hands creeping up his thighs.

A few songs later, Taako was on top, grinding down incessantly on… what's-his-face. He was professing love or something like that while Taako took what he wanted for the _second_ time that night. "I was thinking," Taako murmured, rolling his hips, "I would write this down on a little piece of paper, and drop it into a certain tank. But I want you to remember this… and I want you to miss it." The man nodded frantically while gripping at Taako's waist, and he was probably about to confess love _again_ if not for Taako's passive perception spotting something flashing in his cloak, thrown to the other side of the room.

Taako felt the good kind of sore as he eased out of the bed and onto the floor for whatever magical object was acting up. It was probably important, anyway. Scratch that: it better be important.

"Baby," the man called after him while he rummaged through his stuff.

"I may wipe your memories after all," Taako murmured to himself, and when he found his Stone of Farspeech flashing and glowing in his pocket, he cast Sleep over his shoulder. "Nyello, Taako speaking?"

There were some sniffles over the line. "Y-you said I could c-come to you, if I had a n-nightmare," a very small voice said, and Taako's heart dropped to his stomach.

"I sure did, pumpkin," soothed Taako, running a hand through his own hair, "I'm planetside right now but make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back." Taako tried to sober himself through sheer force of will, pulling his skirt down over his hips and gathering his cloak and bag. He didn't spare a second thought for the human he left in the bed behind him.

This wasn't good. Taako didn't like _being there_ for people, as a rule. It was more complicated than it was worth, and involved a lot of cutting fun nights short, and running back to people who may-or-may-not be his surrogate son. But he was getting used to it; to reiterate, this wasn't good.

Taako stumbled far enough away from the center of town to call a sphere and stood outside huddled under his cloak, clutching his umbra staff to his chest. It took only a few minutes for one to float down to him, and just as he climbed in, it started to rain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fluff
> 
> reposted cause of issues

After their weekly magic lessons, Taako took it upon himself to make sure Angus ate dinner that night. He knew that without supervision it was very likely that an already exhausted Angus would just go back down to his room to study theory and fall asleep over his books with an empty stomach. Taako knew what it felt like to go hungry and refused to let his apprentice feel the same for even a few hours.

Tonight there must have been some meeting, or a storm planetside, or something else preventing Bureau employees from taking their dinner elsewhere. Taako had never seen it so full and lively; it was a sort of comfort to hear so many voices at once with not one begging his attention. Still, he made sure he and Angus sat somewhere out of the way where Taako could put his back up against the wall and get a good view of the whole room.

Angus listened in to every conversation just a little while he ate until Taako noticed him flagging over his plate, leaning so close to Taako he was almost in his lap. Taako grinned down at him and stroked his hair, murmuring, "You're so sleepy, bubeleh," almost in awe. He was familiar with exhaustion, mental and physical, but the need to be unconscious was something Elves didn't really experience. Angus almost fell face-first into his plate but Taako caught him and sat him upright again.

"'M sorry, sir," Angus replied under his breath. Taako would have waved away his apology if he were actually awake at all. As it was, he just stood up and helped Angus up as well, ready to take him to bed. Angus was much shorter than Taako, and pretty slight, but Taako knew what a fit he would throw if he found out Taako carried him like a baby to his dorm. So instead he walked Angus out of the dining hall into the open air between domes.

After a deep breath, Taako swung his umbra staff around one hand and snapped it up onto his shoulder, still guiding Angus with a hand against his back. "Go straight to bed tonight, alright? No studying." Angus practically tucked himself under Taako's cloak at a strong gust of wind and Taako let him, continuing, "If I find you with a book in your hand tomorrow morning I'm throwing them all into the ethereal plane."

Angus laughed despite himself, warming Taako through the night's chill. "Okay, Taako," he said, eyes mostly closed, trusting his mentor to guide him.

Taako herded him into the common elevator and pressed the button for the Seekers' floor. Angus was just awake enough to unlock his door when they reached it and slowly step away from Taako's grip on his shoulder. He dropped his bag just inside the door before turning around and locking both arms around Taako's waist.

"Night," he mumbled against Taako's sundress, and was about to pull away when Taako hugged him right back and dropped a kiss on top of his head.

"Goodnight, pumpkin. I'll see you tomorrow." Taako squeezed him, just tight enough to get him to giggle sleepily, and then slowly let go. "I'm serious. No books."

"No books," Angus repeated. He smiled before closing the door and Taako stood in the hallway for a moment, still feeling warmth under his hands. Then he swung his umbra staff around again, rested it on his shoulder, and made his way back upstairs to the THB private elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

Angus understood that he didn't really _know_ about a lot of things. He solved a lot of mysteries, sure, when he had enough evidence to do so. He could do research on his own and wasn't shy about asking questions of people who knew more than him. But for those things that left no evidence, he was lost.

That's why he liked being around the Voidfish. He didn't know anything about it, and probably never would. He didn't _need_ to know anything about it either. It was a mystery better left unsolved.

"Ango?"

Angus glanced up from where he was sitting on the floor with his back to the Voidfish's tank, nose buried in a magical theory book (Disguise Self was tripping him up at every turn). Magnus was standing in front of him, looking sort of worried and sort of relieved, which were two emotions Angus didn't usually connect between him and the older man. "Hello, sir," he said cheerfully while fitting a metal bookmark between his book's pages. "Is something wrong?"

Magnus shifted from foot to foot, seeming a little lost without Railsplitter in his hands. He continued to look at Angus like he was a particularly dimwitted animal. "You weren't answering your Stone. Taako told me it's time for your… lessons?"

"Oh!" Angus moved from his butt to his knees, trying to ignore the pins and needles coming on from having sat for so long, and carefully shoved his book into the shoulder bag at his side. "Yes, I forgot!" He hesitated. "Is Taako mad?" Taako hated it when he was late to things, even threatening to cancel the lessons altogether even if Taako was _already_ late and Angus was coming in just after him. Angus knew he was just goofing but sometimes it made his heart jump nervously to hear it. 

The Voidfish sang some sweet notes as Magnus ushered him out of the room and, instead of moving toward the kitchens where he and Taako normally did lessons, they walked across the quad toward the sleeping quarters. "He's less mad, more… frantic," Magnus explained on the way. "I don't think he was expecting you to just disappear like you did, kiddo. You're usually in one of three places and we weren't expecting you to be anywhere else."

Angus followed his long strides with steps twice as quick, holding on to the strap of his bag as he trotted along. "I'm with the Voidfish a lot, sir. It's very calming in there!"

With a chuckle, Magnus gave Angus another friendly pat on the back. "If you say so. Let's get you to Taako for now, so he doesn't pull out _all_ of his hair."

The Reclaimers' suite wasn't empty when they entered, Carey and Killian playing some sort of card game on the coffee table while Taako paced on the other side of the sunken living room. As soon as he met Angus' gaze he rushed over, hair wild and loose around his face, looking for all intents and purposes like he was going to throttle Angus on the spot.

Instead, he lifted Angus into his arms with a strength the young human didn't know he had and hugged him so tight Angus thought his ribs would crack. "Don't you _ever_ do that again, kid!" Taako groaned, and then set Angus on his feet again--a little wobbly but mostly upright. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought you died! I thought you--you fell off the fucking moon or something!"

Angus wasn't sure how to calm Taako down. He wasn't quite pacing but his movements were frenetic, hands pulling his mass of curls up into a ponytail before letting it all drop without tying it up, watching Angus' every breath with sharp eyes. "Sorry, sir, but I was just gone for a few hours," he tried to reason.

"But you wouldn't miss a lesson in the first place, dude. I would have never thought the boy genius would play hooky." This was said with a laugh as Taako leaned closer, pressing Angus' cheeks between his hands and kissing his forehead. "You're killin' me."

Angus blushed up to the ears (either Killian or Carey was "aww"ing embarrassingly) and closed his eyes, accepting the kiss. "I'll answer my Stone next time, I promise, okay?" he said even softer.

Taako seemed to relax in front of him, and then he stood up fully, looking down his nose at Angus in his normal half-aloof expression. "I'll burn a spell slot on you if you pull this shit again," he drawled, but then his expression lightened and he said, "What am I gonna do with you, bubeleh?"

It was a common question, asked with the same grudging affection Taako preferred to show him in public. Angus gripped the strap of his bag a bit tighter and asked, "Help me with my Disguise Self?"

The Elf huffed another soft laugh and took Angus' hat off to ruffle his hair before fitting it on again, earning some childish giggles. "Not today. I think we should work on your macarons instead." Angus lit up all the same and one side of Taako's mouth turned up in an answering grin.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no warnings
> 
> small chapter cause its my birthday! so its like a gift to myself. im going to try to update the modern au today as well but i have work to do so i dont know if i can get to it all
> 
> thanks for reading

The feeling of a hangover without the lingering fun of a night out was very, very bad and super horrible. Taako pushed himself up on one arm and peered at the window, the light from outside bright and yellow and cheerful. Too early. He let his head drop to the pillow again.

His door creaked open and it was a testament to his ill-advised trust in his traveling companions that he didn't even stir. The door closed and he barely heard whoever it was walking toward him, and then they were climbing into his bed, and then there was a hand on his back. "Sir?" Angus McDonald asked, patting Taako's shoulder.

"What, kid?"

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Taako resisted the urge to smother himself in his pillow. "I'm sure. What do you want?"

Angus shifted so he had both small hands resting on Taako's back. "It's eleven am. Our lessons are supposed to start soon."

"What dumbshit set your lesson for eleven am?" Taako groaned; he hid his smile with his blankets.

Angus' giggles just made him smile wider. " _You_ did!" he said through badly stifled laughter.

"You callin' me a dumbshit?" A gasp, and then the shifting of blankets as Angus tried to run. Taako expected that and was already sitting up, ready to grab Angus around the waist and tickle him into submission.

"I'm sorry! Sorry!" Angus shrieked through his laughter. Taako eventually let up and watched Angus pant up at the ceiling, his glasses knocked askew by their roughhousing. 

"That's what you fucking get, you little ingrate. Teach you to insult me!" Taako wiggled his fingers threateningly but Angus only narrowed his eyes and cast a _very_ well-formed Mage Hand to smack Taako's hand away.

They sat in silence for about twenty seconds before Taako pounced again, determined to tickle Angus to the edge of his life.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good old depression is really sapping my energy to write, but i figured some fluff wouldnt hurt. hope you enjoy

Sometimes Taako pretended he was softer than he was. Not necessarily stupid, just… soft. And it wasn't in a self-deprecating way; as far as Angus knew, he didn't really say less than complementary things about himself that often, and even then he could bounce back pretty quickly. He was _Taako_. From _TV_.

Like now. The sharp, almost sarcastic grin Taako wore while talking to his friends faded into something glazed and vapid when he looked up at the server asking their orders. Taako was accompanying Angus to a small tavern for lunch after a day of dragging him around to clothing stores somewhere planetside, trying to "spruce up his wardrobe."

"You dress like my grandfather and I'm at least a hundred years older than you, dude," the Elf had complained good-naturedly while convincing him to go. Angus pouted and pulled at the hem of his smart vest, but inwardly he was pleased. Taako didn't go on solo missions with a lot of people so maybe Angus was his favorite.

Angus couldn't help but smile thinking about that, which provoked an automatic answering smile out of Taako. "What'cha thinkin' 'bout, homie?" he asked just under the din of the tavern's other patrons.

"Nothing," Angus murmured, leaning his head in his hands. It was much warmer inside the tavern than it was outside and he felt almost comfortable enough to fall asleep in his chair. "My little boy legs are getting kind of tired. But not that bad!" he was quick to amend while sitting straight again. "I'm ready to keep shopping after this, sir."

Taako was already shaking his head, some of the fragrant flowering herbs on his hat bouncing with the movement. "Nah, let's go home. We can always come back later." Angus felt his face heat at the thought of Taako bringing him somewhere _again_.

"You better fuck off!" a customer slurred loudly from across the large room at the bar. It startled Angus into almost knocking his own glasses off but he adjusted them carefully and looked over, watching a tall, yellow-eyed Dragonborn lean forward over the counter toward the Orc bar back. "You have no idea who the fuck you're talking to."

"I do have a fucking idea. Get the fuck out," the bar back replied, seemingly bored of the entire conversation while wiping up a spilled drink. 

Angus looked back over at Taako; he was watching the argument with the same daydreamy expression that he used on the waiter, elbow resting on the table, chin in hand. When it finally came to other patrons shoving at the belligerent Dragonborn, Taako finally laughed; maybe it was because he was an Elf, or maybe because it was such a distinct sound amid the shouting, but it caught everyone's attention.

The Dragonborn turned growled at the two of them, long fangs glistening from between his lips. "Got somethin' to add, magic boy?" he called.

"That's magic _man_ to you," Taako replied without hesitation, unaffected. Angus covered his mouth with his hands as he laughed.

Unsurprisingly, the Dragonborn didn't think Taako's quip was very funny. "Watch your tongue," he almost literally hissed, "Before I rip the whelp's out."

Taako's absentminded smile at the insult to himself turned into a sneer when the threats moved to Angus. He lifted a hand, casting Prestidigitation to form what Angus could tell was illusory dagger in his hand; the Dragonborn took a step backward. "Watch yours," Taako replied. He dropped the knife, casting another Prestidigitation to create a loud _thunk_ as the dagger seemed to sink its tip a few inches into the wooden table.

"No fights in my bar," a woman said, standing near the door that led to the kitchens.

"No fights, Madame Alewife," Taako said, back to teasing, and she just rolled her eyes at him before leaving again. "Come on Angus, before I get thrown in jail again and you have to heist me out."

Angus obediently slid out of his chair, watching Taako "pull" the dagger out of the table and then dispel it. "I don't think I could plan something like that, sir," he said doubtfully. "I usually worked _with_ the militia, not against them!"

Taako snickered--back to his usual self--as he lifted their bags in one hand and tugged at Angus' newsboy cap with the other. "Then you could use your babyfaced charm on them, pumpkin!" He didn't hold the door on the way out for Angus, but really, Angus didn't expect him to. He just adjusted his hat and followed Taako's long strides down the worn path toward the edge of town.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> magnus and taako discuss who should formally adopt angus
> 
> (i might continue this one, im just out of ideas for it atm)

"Me? No fucking way." Taako pushed a lock of hair behind one pointed ear and then continued stirring vigorously at the batter in his mixing bowl. The counter underneath it was splattered with water and flour and his haphazard mixing only added to the mess. "You do understand I've never _had_ parents, right?"

Magnus, in the middle of carving something very intricate and very abstract in a dark wood, shook his head from his seat at the kitchen table. "That doesn't matter. You've got, like, a lot of skills with him. And he trusts you more than any of us."

Taako snorted disbelievingly. "More than you? He only comes to me for magic," he listed, dropping his spoon and holding up a finger, "And food," he said, raising another. "He loves hanging with you. Why don't you do it?"

"The only reason he comes to me for that is because you act like you don't like him." Magnus turned his carving over and Taako could make out most of a torso and head, topped with curly hair. He looked at his mixing bowl again. "Really, dude. Try _talking_ to him like a normal person."

"Normal?"

Their bickering was interrupted by Angus stepping into the kitchen, his eyes wide behind round glasses. "Hello, sirs!" he greeted brightly. "Am I interrupting something?"

Taako rolled his eyes and turned toward the kitchen cabinets, rifling around for olive oil. Magnus used his newly developed Rogue skills to slyly shift his carving again. "Not at all, Ango," he said calmly. "Come on in."

Angus, always too observant for his own good, seemed suspicious of how uncomfortable Taako looked. He continued in anyway, clutching his detective notebook to his chest. The room was comfortably warm from Taako's preheated oven and it relaxed him within a few seconds.

His eyes lit up when he saw Taako using a small brush to wipe oil over the holes in his cupcake pan. "Oh, Taako! What flavor are you making?" He ran up to the counter, one hand outstretched to stick his fingers in the bowl.

Taako rapped them lightly with the handle of his spoon. "There's eggs in this, kid. If you get salmonella it won't be on my watch." Angus huffed but pulled his hand back to his side. "I made oatmeal cookies yesterday, go get one of those."

Angus nodded, still clearly put out. Taako grinned in reply, and then reached over to ruffle Angus' hair, signaling he was just teasing. "Okay, sir," Angus said with a laugh while he leaned into Taako's hand. Then he pulled away to, presumably, go to the dining room where Taako usually put his baked goods for sharing.

As soon as he left, Magnus sent Taako a significant look.

"Fuck off," Taako said.


End file.
